Tag Archives: Pattern

2015 Recap

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So its that time of year when I take a moment to see how things went in the past year. And looking back this year its looking pretty good.

In 2014, I didn’t finish any quilts, and I set a goal in 2015 to finish seven. Well, I finished five.

The third Star Trek Quilt!
TA-DA!

I did work a bit on some others and hatched a few more plans for quilts, but this brings my completed total to twelve.

I knit over 14,000 yards and I did indeed focus on my stash, some shawls with beads and on socks. I eliminated one of the three overflow stash boxes entirely!

I knit twice as many socks last year as I had in all my knitting time prior!

It was a beautiful day for a drive. I still have some green toes, but not as much and the socks fit.. which was the most important part.
Spring Flowers for your feet!
Sock one on the right, all size 0 needle, Sock Two starts with a size 1 needle on the leg.
10 days, 2 socks, one at a time.
No officer, a clown did not puke on my feet.

I did a bit more lace work, with over 3000 beads.  This included my wedding shawl in my own dyed yarn and some never wilting hair flowers.

This project has a nice soft drape

And I even designed a bit with two patterns published, my hairpin flowers and one project that needs another run through to refine.

This kitty loves to travel.

So now I’m sitting here feeling like I did SO much last year and wondering just how much I can get done in the coming year.

Get Wrecked! Wreck Yourself Cowl Pattern

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The Wreck Yourself Cowl pattern is now live on Rav and on the patterns page!  You will also see that I have added the option for you to purchase direct off my site if you aren’t into the Ravelry scene.  (Though as a knitter… its a pretty amazing scene to be in)

And since you may need both patterns to use up that one skein, I’m offering a discount if you buy both the Check Yourself and the Wreck Yourself Cowl patterns.  Just use the coupon code CheckedBeforeWrecked and it will take $2 (USD) off the total.  Its like buy one, get one for half price.  And if that sounds too complex well… just click here and it will do the whole add patterns and coupons directly for you.  Woohoo!

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Check Yourself Cowl Pattern

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Check YourselfI am both immensely proud and partially horrified… I’ve just published my first for pay pattern.  My test knitter messaged me with a pre-coffee wake up update that she had finished her knitting and so the Check Yourself Cowl is now available on Ravelry.

The pattern was test knit and includes directions for both an Aran or Worsted Weight yarn options, and works very well with one yarn that may not have a consistent gauge, such as your own homespun or in my sample, Manos del Uruguay Classica.

And now for some sentimental rambling thoughts…

Deciding to sell a pattern rather than just give it away is one of those brain hurdles for me.  Up until now, I was easing my way into the pool with some free patterns… learning the ropes and through my own knitting seeing the good patterns vs bad patterns traits.  But there comes a point when you just have to take the big plunge and as I was making up my cowl… that was the time.  Get wet and get over it.

The inside (for the curious)

Yarn Swapping, Assassiknitting, and a Nyan Cowl Pattern too!

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Crafting can at times be very social, and yet very independent work too.  Its the range from knitting/sewing circles to just me at home with my machine/needles.  It can be very easy to skew to one end or the other and at times I feel a distinct need to correct the trajectory.  So this year I’m engaging a bit more with the people side of things.

I started with a couple of yarn swaps.  Yarn swaps are pretty simple to explain, everyone buys yarn for someone, and so everyone gets something they hopefully like.  I have 3 swaps so far, two completed, and one still on-going.  (I’ve sent mine, but still quite some time until shipping deadlines)

For which I have gained some great yarn from my first two swaps.

Madeline Tosh Vintage in Begonia Leaf
Pattons Classic Wool in Denim
Locally farmed Alpaca from Iowa

After the first couple swaps I joined in on an Assassiknitting group project. Assassiknitting is where everyone works the same project, with the goal of completing yours and mailing it out to “kill” whom you are knitting for.  At which point you take on their project and try to eliminate their target…. all before you get eliminated yourself.  Our project was to knit up a Grumpasaurus.  I knit for someone in Pennsylvannia, and managed to get my Grumpy guy knit all in the first day and out the door faster than I could take a photo with his feet attached.

Curse his sudden yet inevitable betrayal!

Curse his sudden yet inevitable betrayal!

However… my assassin was also a speedy knitter and completed and shipped her grump the first day.  She also lived in the same state, so I was sadly… eliminated.  Here’s the culprit:

His face almost says, “Sorry about this”
Turns out… he was actually an herbivore. Killed me with his cuteness.

Which brings us to the third, yet on-going yarn swap.  I have already mailed mine, and I know that there are a few people who have commented about the Nyan Cowl and my thoughts of writing up a pattern.  One of those people was the person I was to gift to.  So I finished up assembling my bits of notes into something resembling a pattern and sent it on its way.

Since my giftee has now received  her package of loot, I am happy to now offer the Nyan Cowl Pattern to everyone!

And YOU get a Nyan, and YOU get a Nyan, And YOU, and YOU, and YOU....

And YOU get a Nyan, and YOU get a Nyan, And YOU, and YOU, and YOU….

 

Nyan Cowl (PDF)

Please note that this pattern has had very limited test knitting.  Please notify me if you find any errors or mistakes, or just if       something isn’t 100% clear.   Unfortunately I do not have yardage requirements, but I can say that I used less than a single skein of each color, and you can use my first project which I have updated to include specific yarns I used.

Happy Nyaning!

 

 

 

PS – While I was anxiously waiting to post the Nyan Cowl pattern, I found I’d written up most of my market bag pattern at one point… so I finished writing that up too.  I’m calling it Misscarlotta Goes to Market and would love to have some people try it out.

 

Meet Debora; My First Pattern

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So a bit ago I made a shawl, and each section started as partial cast on and partial picked up stitches.

I started out so afraid of cutting up my yarn....

I started out so afraid of cutting up my yarn….

Then I migrated to the 3 leaf counterpane, where every pane was a separate piece that had to later be joined together.  Its also one on which I fiddled with the pattern slightly, and only had enough yarn to make a 9 pane piece.

Conquering my fear of joining pieces together!

Conquering my fear of joining pieces together!

And today… I’m finally presenting my very first counterpane pattern, which I am naming after a very important person in my life, my aunt Debora.

The Debora Counterpane

The Debora Counterpane

This was an interesting experience as I pulled out and restarted the original pane several times until I found something that combined the elements I wanted.  On the second pane, I documented each rows stitches as I attempted to recreate my work.  Then for panes 3 through 16 it was stitching from the pattern and adjusting the notes so that they made sense to someone other than myself!  For this 16 pane blanket, which was gifted to my aunt Debora, it took roughly 10 skeins of Cascade Superwash DK weight.

A Closer view of the pane joined at the leaf points.

A Closer view of the pane joined at the leaf points.

And a view of the panes joined at the lace points

And a view of the panes joined at the lace points

If you would like this pattern, you can get it from the patterns page (linked above) or here: DeboraCounterpane (PDF file)

This pattern is freely available, but if you enjoy it and feel so compelled, my aunt Debora and I would be pleased if you would give a donation to the American Cancer Society.